We are expecting our second child in July. By the time the new baby will go to daycare our daughter will be 3. She goes to in home daycare and my daycare provider is saying its going to be $395 a week. I already pay $200/week for our daughter and her price has never gone down. Just trying to get a feel for rates on the area. It seems extremely high to me and when I go on mn child care websites it says the average is 310. Also looking for advice on potentially negotiating when and how would be the best way?
See my last comment I posted
Day care center we paid $365 a week for both, Home person watching them it was $375 a week, Home daycare over the summer $225 a week for both (best care yet, really! )
I was paying 400 a week, most of which was for my 4 year old.. they are expensive.
I have my kids seperated now, and my son goes to preschool 1/2 day.. so I now pay $30 a day for him...
The ratio of provider to child is lower for infants. She might have to forgo caring for an additional child in order to care for your infant.
That said, $1600 a month was what it cost for an infant in a daycare facility in the Seattle area around 5 years ago. I would expect an in-home provider to be somewhat less expensive than a facility.
Wow I guess I am really lucky with my child care. Daycare for my one son who is almost 4 is only $22 a day, or 110 for the week.
I would recommend asking friends and neighbors in your area. Different areas can probably demand different pricing. Looking at a general website is hard to go by if they are including rural and urban areas. I am not sure what in-home is as we use a center and pay a bit more than that. I do know at a center they typically offer a 10% discount for the second child and the first child eventually goes down because the teacher to student ratio increases as they get older. Obviously an in-home works a lot differently and they don't have the same flexibility.
Do you negotiate with Target if you're going to buy two shirts at a time? Why would you think you should negotiate on the price of your daycare? You chose to have two children. When you have costs for two children, you have to pay them. A daycare "spot" is a commodity - it's worth a certain amount of money. Why should a provider "sell" you the spot for a lesser amount? (Especially with all the new, hard regulations regarding infants). Sorry, I sometimes sound harsh when I write - good luck!
I think you are getting a good deal. At the small center we use in SE MN we pay $395 a week for a 3 year old and a kindergartener who is only there 1/2 days.
Update to all: I actually did speak to my provider and she was very open to discuss her rate she loves my daughter and doesn't want us to leave when I explained that we just simply could not afford the rate she was quoting me and in addition to that the market wasnt supporting the rate we agreed to $350 which I find very reasonable and we will be staying there. What a relief! Thanks for all the comments. Well except Karen's who I'm sure makes a lot more money and can afford to be judgmental.
